Tuesday, July 31, 2012

USS Somerset:Last of 9-11 Tribute Ships Christened-memorial warship will transport U.S. Marines

The USS Somerset(LPD 25),the last of three amphibious transport dock ships named after sites affected by the 9-11 terrorist attacks,was christened on Saturday.Mrs.Mary Jo Myers,wife of General Richard B. Myers,U.S. Air Force retired,former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,performed the naval tradition of breaking a bottle of champagne against the new ship's bow at its official naming.Mrs.Myers' participation suggests the closeness of the Navy and Air Force in this era of the Air-Sea Battle Concept and joint basing.
The ceremony was held at  the Avondale shipyard near New Orleans,which is slated to close once the Somerset's final construction is completed.
Somerset County,Pennsylvania was where the passengers of Flight 93 stormed the cockpit in resistance to the terrorists,bringing the plane down in a field there.Twenty-three family members of those who perished in the Somerset County incident attended the christening.The ship includes steel from a crane bucket that was used to recover the Flight 93 wreckage in its bow stem,or leading edge.
The other 9-11 memorial ships are the USS New York(LPD 21) and the USS Arlington(LPD 24).These San Antonio class vessels are for transporting up to 800 U.S. Marines,their equipment and supplies to war zones,unstable regions and humanitarian disaster areas.They have well decks for landing craft and amphibious vehicles,as well as hangars and flight decks for a wide range of helicopters and the Marines' MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.The ships are armed with 2 Mk31 Mod1 RAM launchers;2 Mk46 30mm guns;and 10 .50 caliber machine guns.
Huntington Ingalls Industries built the three memorial ships.Please visit the photo link below this post.
Huntington Ingalls Industries(HII)

Navy.mil - View Image USS Somerset Christening

Navy.mil - View Image

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Maersk Line,Limited Plays Important Role in Military Transport

A.P. Moller-Maersk Group is a Danish global conglomerate that operates in about 130 countries with around 108,000 workers.It is active in fields from shipping and energy,to logistics,retail and manufacturing.Its U.S. subsidiary,Maersk Line,Limited,based in Norfolk,Virginia,is a major U.S. defense contractor,playing an integral role in military transport by U.S. flag merchant vessels.MLL employs about 900 U.S. merchant mariners daily on the largest U.S. flag fleet in commercial service.
MLL's first government contract came in 1983,when it converted and operated five military prepositioning ships.Today,MLL does flexible and end-to-end distribution of U.S. government cargo,including military sustainment and humaintarian aid,as well as complex unit moves and assorted breakbulk items.MLL manages and charters a fleet of tankers and heavy-lift multi-purpose vessels for a wide range of government and commercial cargoes.
With its technical expertise,MLL also applies proven program management and lifecycle strategies to optimise the performance of maritime assets,reducing total ownership costs and increasing operational reliability.The Farrell Lines MLL subsidary provides pure car/truck carriers under U.S. flag for the global distribution requirements of the U.S. armed forces.MLL is deeply committed to the U.S. military,the U.S. Merchant Marine and the maritime industry.Its corporate values include continuous improvement and environmental stewardship.
Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby is Commander,Miltary Sealift Command,with which Maersk Line,Limited works so closely.MLL is an integral part of military contingency planning.

NASA - Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space

NASA - Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Barton Biggs:Marine,Mountaineer,Investor

Barton Biggs,a financier whose correct market forecasts far outnumbered his mistakes,has died at the age of 79.Mr.Biggs,the son of a Bank of New York money manager,had been ill from a bacterial infection that spread to his organs.He was one of the earliest strategists to realize the importance of the emerging markets while working at Morgan Stanley from 1973-2003.Among his successful calls were the U.S. bull market of 1982;the Japanese crash of 1984;the implosion of the dot com bubble in 2000;and the bottom of the U.S. market in 2009.Along with everyone else,he had failed to predict the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.
Mr.Biggs was a graduate of Yale University with an English major and had a business degree from New York University.After Yale,he served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer for three years during the Cold War era.In his spare time,he took up mountaineering,becoming proficient enough to climb peaks in the 12,000-15,000 foot range such as Mont Blanc;the Matterhorn;and Mount Rainier.He was the author of several books,including "Hedgehogging" and "Wealth,War and Wisdom,"as well as "A Hedge Fund Tale."
Mr.Biggs,a frequent guest on business television,was one of the pioneers of the hedge fund industry at Fairfield Partners in the 1960s.He would later go on to co-found another hedge fund,Traxis Partners,in 2003 at the age of 70.
The divorced father of three and grandfather of nine dressed casually for his TV appearances.He still enjoyed the market game,he told Yahoo's Matt Nesto last year.He dismissed high frequency trading as a threat to the market,however.
Morgan Stanley(MS)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

From History to Hollywood:Oscar Winner Was WWII Navy Vet

Ernest Borgnine,95,one of the most popular and long-lived actors in Hollywood,passed away on Sunday,July 8 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center,Los Angeles after a brief illness.He was a ten year veteran of the U.S. Navy and lifelong supporter of  fellow veterans and their families.
Borgnine,the son of Italian emigres,was born in Hamden,Connecticut,which named a street in his honor.He enlisted in the Navy in 1935 and served until 1941,but promptly re-enlisted in that year when Pearl Harbor was attacked and served an additional four years.He achieved the rank of Gunner's Mate 1st Class,serving aboard the USS Lamberton(DMS-2),a fast minesweeper that had originally been a WWI era destroyer(DD-119).Indeed,the ship continued to perform the escort duties typical of a destroyer,despite its new classification.His decorations included the Navy Good Conduct Medal;American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp;American Campaign Medal;Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal;and WWII Victory Medal.On October 4,2004,he was awarded the honorary Chief Petty Officer rating from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott for his support of the Navy and naval families worldwide.He had visited a number of veterans hospitals.
After the war,his mother had suggested an acting career for him,noting his exhibitionist tendencies,and he agreed.Borgnine worked in film and TV until the end of his life.He won a Best Actor Oscar in 1955 for the role of Marty in the film of that name.He also appeared in From Here To Eternity;Torpedo Run;Barnabas;The Dirty Dozen;Ice Station Zebra;The Wild Bunch;Willard;and The Poseidon Adventure-more than a hundred films in all.His TV credits include McHale's Navy;All Quiet on the Western Front;Airwolf;ER;Jesus of Nazareth;the long-running voiceover role of the Mermaid Man in SpongeBob SquarePants;and many others.
He is survived by his wife Tova;four children and six grandchildren;and his sister Evelyn.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

U.S. Augments Forces in Persian Gulf Region

The U.S. has doubled the number of  its minesweepers in the Persian Gulf from four to eight and dispatched a special ops staging platform,the USS Ponce(LPD-15),to the region.At the same time,the U.S. Air Force has added F-15C Eagles and F-22 Raptors,which are its most advanced fighters currently in service,to air bases nearby.The U.S. Army,for its part,is keeping an extra combat brigade's worth of troops on station in Kuwait.These moves are to respond to any Iranian attempt to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz,which conveys oil tankers from the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf,carrying much of the world's oil supply,and to increase the capablity to conduct deep strikes within Iran.
A senior Defense Department official warned Iran not to even think about it,according to The New York Times.We'll clear the mines.If you send fast boats to harass U.S. vessels or commercial shipping,we'll put them on the bottom of the Gulf,the official promised.Sanctions against Iranian oil exports have just been ratcheted up to pressure Iran to curtail its nuclear program.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been testing a new ballistic missile system that can strike Israel,Turkey and vessels in the Persian Gulf.As well,legislation has been drafted for the Iranian parliament to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers bound for countries participating in the sanctions against it.
The complex build-up of U.S. forces is also meant to rein in Iran's hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East generally;not just its nuclear program,the unnamed Pentagon official said.The USS Ponce,an older ship,was reconfigured for its new mission at the request of U.S. Central Command.With its room for up to six helicopters and well deck for docking small boats and landing craft,the 1970s era ship is ideally suited for special operations support.